Dawn Phenomenon or (Liver Dump)

I have been researching diabetes in relation to flat bed rest and already seeing evidence that the pancreas does not function normally while sleeping.
In fact, there is a common problem in diabetes, where blood sugar spikes at high levels on awakening, even if food intake is restricted, it appears to remain high in the mornings; hence it's labelled as Dawn Phenomenon or Liver Dump.
It is a common belief that the increase in glucose evident in the morning blood tests is caused by an overburdening release of glucose into the blood or by the failure of our body to make use of it.

This applies to insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent alike.

Interestingly, non-diabetics experience similar early morning spikes in glucose according to a study. Demonstration of a Dawn Phenomenon in Normal Human Volunteers

Geremia B Bolli, Pierpaolo De Feo, Salvatore De Cosmo, Gabriele Perriello, Mariarosa M Ventura, Filippo Calcinaro, Claudio Lolli, Peter Campbell, Paolo Brunetti and John E Gerich

diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/33/12/1150.short 

Clearly, there's something amiss with a so called good nights sleep.

Renal function is also affected by being in the horizontal position for hours while we sleep. The density of urine decreases in horizontal bed rest. This was tested with a simple hydrometer, which suggests dissolved solutes continue to circulate in the blood, including glucose and are effectively stored in the blood, rather than being excreted along with the urine, which is itself blood with out the cells present.

It is perfectly logical to assume that if we avoid horizontal bed rest, or indeed head down bed rest, as used by NASA to reproduce the harmful and damaging effects of space travel on astronauts, who incidentally suffer from pancreatic changes, inducing diabetes symptoms and problems including significant changes in insulin release and its functions.

"Nutritional Modulation of Pancreatic Endocrine Function in Microgravity
Principal Investigator:
Brian Tobin, Ph.D.

Organization:
Mercer University School of Medicine

The weightless environment disrupts the body’s normal use and production of insulin, which could relate to muscle atrophy. Dr. Brian Tobin is exploring whether dietary supplements of protein (amino acids) will enhance and normalize insulin secretion and decrease muscle atrophy. This research will lead to ways to keep insulin uptake at normal levels in astronauts in space and in diabetic patients on Earth."

"Ground-based and in-flight investigations illustrate changes in insulin, glucose and amino acid metabolism in space flight. These observations may relate to altered pancreatic endocrine function which is insufficient to meet the needs of microgravity-induced insulin resistance and altered amino-acid metabolism. The changes observed include decreased glucose tolerance, increased circulating insulin and increased reliance upon glucose in muscles. The metabolic meliu resembles an insulin-resistant syndrome, accompanied by a compensatory increase in pancreatic insulin secretion. However, the increase in insulin secretion is insufficient to ameliorate muscle atrophy. The increased insulin secretion is well correlated to muscle atrophy in space flight. The influence of these changes upon the loss of muscle mass and general endocrine metabolic state are not well established"

nsbri.org/researches/nutritional-modulat...ion-in-microgravity/ 

Inclined Bed Therapy is joining all of the dots!